Thank you all.

I finally figured it out. The coil spring was on an angle and I had to experiment with jacking positions to get some of the bend out. I also had to pull and re-insert the plates at different locations on the spring, several times (not fun getting the plates of the spring compressor in and out) so the rod would be at less of an angle.

I just got it back from a camber/caster and toe alignment at the local Mercedes dealer. The tech. said he was able to get it dead on and it certainly drives like it.

It is a low mileage 1983 300D with about 83K miles on it. The lower control arm bushings were worn, and I believe original, so I decided to replace the idler arm bushings, lower ball joints, tie rods and center link while I had everything apart.

Everything else was in good shape.

Beautiful ride now!